Meeting Shorts

AV hit by Gremlins
Despite an issue with the AV system, this month's speakers adopted the Newark Maxim DEO FRETUS ERUMPE or in other words, Trust in God, (and Sally Forth). Bereft of some videos and slides there were still excellent presentations from Julie Reader-Sullivan, NSDC, Jill Brown, Totally Locally, Kate Godfrey part of the 'Britain Stronger in Europe' Campaign and meeting sponsor Tom Woodhead, Woodhead Enterprise..

IN OR OUT
The format for the May meeting was a little different and included a presentation on the forthcomng referendum that is being held on Thursday 23 June to decide whether Britain should leave or remain within the European Union. The initial invitation went out to both leave and stay camps, unfortunately the official leave campaign were already committed, but will attend the next NBC meeting on June 3rd to put the case for leaving the EU.

Kate Godfrey, explained the benefits to business of remaining in the European Union. She said that the East Midlands would be stronger, safer and better off with EU funding.
Kate highlighted the £690m of EU funding that had been invested in the East Midlands, of which £3.2m had gone towards expanding Nottingham's tramway as well as other projects including:

Protection of Moorlands in the Peak District and South Pennines (£9m)

The institute for Aerospace Technology at Nottingham University (£3.2m)

Cathedral Quarter Enterprise Centre, Derby(£2.8m)

Leicester Food Park (£3.3m)

Corby Enterprise Centre (£1.1m).

New TL app opens the doorway to hundreds of offers
Jill Brown from Totally Locally Newark revealed details of the new app available from the Apple Store and Google Play. With over 50 offers across nine categories including food, clothing and entertainment, the app is a must-have for shoppers in Newark. The app enables brick-and-mortar shops to comptete more effectively with on-line shops.

Totally Locally Newark have been working closely with the organisers of Newark Festival and have included a unique app competition where lucky 'Appers' can win the chance for two free tickets for Saturday's events. There will be a chance to win every week for six weeks. To enter you just need to download the app and respond to the offer. The TL app wil be officially launched at the Nottinghamshire County Show this weekend.

Put your 80's Eyes on
Independent shops are preparing for Newark Festival with a leaflet promoting 92 shops around the town. A fold out map lists the businesses
and their location. Jill Brown anticipates an upsurge of visitors to Newark and hopes they will avail themselves of some of the great products available. GH Porter Provisions are included in the listing and hope that shoppers will be drawn to some of their summer fare which includes pork pies, scotch eggs, bbq meats, cheese and nibbles.

Invest Newark & Sherwood
Julie Reader-Sullivan (Business Manager - Economic Growth) reviewed some of the major initiatives that have accrued in the last year. As a benchmark, Julie highlighted a video put together a year ago which set out the business landscape. It is clear that significant progress have been made.

Julie reported that there was positive news on businesses
relocating to NSDC. There are a number of businesses expanding in Newark and either extending their existing sites or considering taking on new sites. NSDC are also working with both pan-European and UK based organisations looking to locate in the district.

The Newark South development had been profiled at MIPIM (International Real Estate Show) as a leading development within the LEP area and this could lead to further investment in the scheme.

A new body, Marketing NottinghamandNottinghamshire took effect as a merger of Experience Nottinghamshire, Invest in Nottingham and Nottingham means Business.

Signage around the Town is under review (including brown tourist signs), with some snagging works from phase one being carried out.

Committees

Discover Edwinstowe House - the next step for your business

Set in the heart of Sherwood Forest, Edwinstowe House originally stood as a Georgian Country Home. It has since been extended to create a thriving business centre, with a range of flexible serviced offices.

Based next to the vibrant small village of Edwinstowe, the business centre not only offers easy access to Nottingham, Mansfield, Newark and Lincoln, but there are a number of local amenities available to those working nearby.
Already the home to a number of businesses, Edwinstowe House accommodates firms from those employing just one or two people to multi-million pound companies with more than a hundred staff.

The business centre is run by Woodhead Enterprise who also operate the Boston Enterprise Centre in Boston, Lincolnshire. Edwinstowe House has meeting rooms and fully-serviced office space to let, training facilities and a range of business support activities, not to mention its own canteen and well-maintained gardens in the centre of the complex.

Edwinstowe House tenant Darren Toms, managing director of Clumber Consultancy, hasn’t looked back since setting up his own business a few years ago.
When Darren began his company as a one-man band, he contacted the team at Edwinstowe House and became a virtual tenant, which meant he had an address for his post to be delivered to, but was still based at home.

Quickly business moved on and Darren needed an office space within Edwinstowe House. Starting on his own in a smaller unit, Darren soon noticed the benefits of being part of the enterprise centre.

He said: “This place just has everything you need as a small business, not only the space and the facilities such as the conference rooms, canteen and plentiful parking, but the centre managers like Tracey and her team are incredibly supportive.”

Woodhead Enterprise is already working on renovating its existing building and looks ahead to bigger plans for expansion and modernisation over the coming 12 months.

For more information, or to book an appointment to view the business centre, please contact Tracey Wathall, Centre Manager, on 01623 827900, or email: tracey@edwinstowe-house.co.uk.

In a rigorous selection process as part of a recent tender, the club were delighted to confirm that the contract had been let to Bazzoo, award winning brand and interactive developers.

The new build will comprise a responsive website suitable for viewing on mobile and tablet devices.

It will will have a members directory where businesses will be able to search for services as required. In addition, details of meeting dates, sponsor details and events will also be included.

There will be a members log-in area where business details can be entered, logos added along with key business descriptors. There will also be a link to the monthly newsletter and an archive of past newsletters.

Jalapeno win Business Card draw

Laurence Child, Senior IT systems Consultant, Jalapeno was this moth's winner of the business card draw. Jalapeno are a professional services company delivering high quality operational management and business services to the small and medium sized business sector. We understand that while the importance of well-maintained IT is paramount, the cost associated with an in-house staff member can be prohibitive. For futher details visitThink BIig Fund creates 100 jobs
The Think Big Loan Fund, which had created more than 100 jobs, at a cost of approximately
£8,000 per job, which compared favourably to the cost-per-job of other similar schemes.

The scheme was under review because it was originally a response to the recession so the terms may change going forward. For further details visit

Other business support schemes available include:

NBV www.nbv.co.uk (Starting a business, grant for enterprise and Business Assist programme)